Meet the Team Behind Pointwise

The Pointwise Executive Team

John R. ChawnerPresident

After starting his professional career doing applied CFD in the Propulsion Analysis Group at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics), co-founder John Chawner transferred into the CFD Group and began working as a Gridgen software developer in 1987. Since 1994, he has been involved in all facets of Pointwise's products - software development, projects, support, and training - leading to one of his current roles, product manager. He also oversees business operations and new business development. Mr. Chawner earned a B.S. in mechanical/aerospace engineering in 1984 from Syracuse University and an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1990. He is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a former chair of their Meshing, Visualization and Computational Environments technical committee, a member of the ASSESS Initiative's advisory committee, and a member of the mechanical and aerospace engineering advisory board for Syracuse University. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

John P. Steinbrenner, Ph.D.Executive Vice President

Co-founder John Steinbrenner initiated Gridgen's development in 1984 when he joined the nascent CFD Group at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics). Dr. Steinbrenner has been leading development of Gridgen and Pointwise ever since, including both internally funded and contractually funded development. Dr. Steinbrenner earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1982, an M.S. in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University in 1984, and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1995. Dr. Steinbrenner is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Richard J. Matus, Ph.D.Executive Vice President

Rick Matus joined Pointwise during its first year of operation. He leads the sales and marketing activities. Previously, Dr. Matus was product manager for the RAMPANT CFD solver, predecessor of Fluent, at Fluent, Inc. and for several years supervised and performed applied CFD at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division. Dr. Matus earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University in 1980, an M.S. in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M in 1981, and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1986. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

The Applied Research Team

Nick WymanDirector

Nick Wyman directs Pointwise's research efforts, focusing contracted software development on solving problems faced by our customers. He joined Pointwise in 1998 as a Gridgen developer and became manager of the entire Development Team. He received a B.S. in aerospace engineering and a M.S. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1992 and 1994. Before joining Pointwise, he worked for Advanced Scientific Computing (later AEA Technology), performing CFD applications work and developing grid generation software for turbomachinery. Mr. Wyman is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Steve L. Karman, Jr., Ph.D.Staff Specialist

Steve Karman joined Pointwise's Applied Research Team in 2014. He had been a tenured professor in the Graduate School of Computational Engineering, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga since 2012. Dr. Karman, an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, has served as chairman of the Meshing, Visualization and Computational Environments Technical Committee. He earned B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1991. At General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin, Dr. Karman developed CFD tools in support of the F-16, F-22 and F-35 programs. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

The Product Development Team

Pat BakerProduct Development Director

Pat Baker has decades of experience in software design and development for both scientific and business applications, including consulting on the port of Gridgen to Windows and work at Sabre, Hewlett-Packard, and Convex. Immediately prior to joining Pointwise, he was the principal developer at Softsmiths of a suite of applications for the electric industry. Mr. Baker earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering with a minor in computer science from the University of Missouri - Rolla in 1984. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Mike JefferiesProduct Development Manager

Mike Jefferies joined the Product Development Team at Pointwise in 2002. Prior to that, he worked at Intel developing audio decoders for a media appliance. He also took a short hiatus from Pointwise in 2012 to join Reel FX Creative Studios as a tools developer for the animated films Free Birds and The Book of Life. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science at Arizona State University with an emphasis in computer graphics and geometric design. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Jim ColbySenior Engineer

Jim Colby brings 27 years of professional software development experience to our Product Development Team, which he joined in September 2010 as Senior Engineer. His most recent experience prior to Pointwise was with FEI Company, where he wrote software used for focused ion beam microscopes used in circuit edit applications. He also worked at Electroglas, Timepres, KLA-Tencor, and Lockheed Martin. Mr. Colby earned an M.S. in Computational Physics from San Jose State University in 1994 and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA in 1983. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Chris FoutsPointwise Fellow, Staff Specialist

Chris Fouts was one of the three original Gridgen developers and worked in the CFD group at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics). Prior to joining Pointwise, Mr. Fouts was a software developer at SGI, where he worked on Cosmo Player, Inventor, and related technology and a systems engineer in SGI's Dallas office. He earned a B.A.E. (Bachelors of Aerospace Engineering) and an M.S. in aerospace engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1985 and 1986, respectively. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

David GarlischEngineering Specialist

David Garlisch brings 23 years of software development experience to our product development team. Prior to joining Pointwise, he spent 10 years with CADSoft Solutions and Punch! Software, where he co-developed Concepts 3D, a cross-platform, ACIS-based, hybrid solid and surface modeling CAD system. He earned a B.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1984. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Michael MirskySenior Engineer

Michael Mirsky joined Pointwise in August 2012 after earning a B.S. in computer science from the University of Texas at Dallas. His capstone design project was team-based development of two iOS applications for Karsun Solutions of Herndon, Virginia. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Mike Remotigue, Ph.D.Engineering Specialist

Dr. Remotigue joined Pointwise in August 2012 after nearly 21 years as a professor at Mississippi State University where his mesh generation research was focused on development of the unstructured mesh generation software SolidMesh and SolidMesh++. Dr. Remotigue also contributed to other meshing software such as GUMBO, GUM-B, NGP, and EAGLEView. Dr. Remotigue earned his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from Mississippi State University in 1999, an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1991, and a B.S. in engineering mechanics from the University of Cincinnati in 1986. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

The Technical Support Team

Carolyn Dear WoeberManager

Carolyn has more than 15 years of experience in mesh generation for a wide range of application areas, with a specialization in unstructured and hybrid mesh generation techniques. At Pointwise, she actively participates in software design, consulting, and serves as a mesh generation advocate in her work with professional workshops and other organizations. Additionally, she manages all Technical Support activities at Pointwise, which include direct customer support, quality assurance, training, consulting, and documentation. Prior to joining Pointwise, Mrs. Woeber was a member of the NSF Engineering Research Center's Computational Simulation and Design Center at Mississippi State University, where she earned a B.S. and an M.S. in aerospace engineering. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

John DreeseSenior Engineer

John Dreese joined Pointwise in 2012 as a member of our Technical Support Team. Prior to Pointwise, Mr. Dreese worked for 10 years at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in the field of weapon separation analysis including simulation and wind tunnel and flight testing. Mr. Dreese earned a B.S. and an M.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from The Ohio State University in 1996 and 1999, respectively. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Erick GanttEngineering Specialist

Erick Gantt is the senior meshing specialist on our Technical Support Team. After earning a B.S. in aerospace engineering (cooperative plan) from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1987, Mr. Gantt joined General Dynamics, Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics), where he worked for a short time on the National Aerospace Plane Project (NASP) program performing CFD analysis. He spent the remainder of his time at Lockheed Martin working in the CFD Group performing CFD analysis for advanced F-16 designs, the F-22 program, and finally the JSF program prior to joining Pointwise in 1997. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Daniel LaCroix, Ph.D.Senior Engineer

Daniel LaCroix joined the Technical Support Team at Pointwise in January 2013 after completing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University, where his dissertation topic was “A Mathematical Model of Blood Coagulation Utilizing the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Pathways.” Dr. LaCroix also earned an M.S. in mechanical engineering from TAMU in 2008 and a Bachelor of Engineering Science (concentration in mechanical engineering and minor in mathematics) from Trinity University in 2005. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Claudio Pita, Ph.D.Engineering Specialist

Dr. Pita joined Pointwise as a senior engineer on the Applied Research Team in September 2010 after completing a year-long term as Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT. In 2013, he joined the Technical Support Team. Dr. Pita earned a B.S. and an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the Instituto Balseiro in Argentina and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Mississippi State University. His Ph.D. research involved “Modeling of oxide bifilms in aluminum castings using the Immersed Element-Free Galerkin Method.” Read more in This is How I Mesh.

The Sales & Marketing Team

Heather McCoyManager

In addition to managing Pointwise's sales and marketing activities, Heather McCoy is the company's community relations coordinator. She joined Pointwise in January 1999. Ms. McCoy graduated from Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, in 1991 with a B.A. in political science. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Andrea AlvaradoMarketing Coordinator

Andrea Alvarado has more than 10 years of sales and marketing experience, which includes marketing analysis, competitive analysis and project management of webinars, promotions and events. Prior to joining Pointwise in 2009, Ms. Alvarado worked for Levin Consulting and as an independent marketing consultant. She earned her B.B.A. in finance from Texas Christian University. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

The Technical Sales Team

Travis CarriganManager

Travis Carrigan leads our Technical Sales Team. He received his M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in May 2011, where his thesis subject was “Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine.” Mr. Carrigan received his B.S. in aerospace engineering in 2009 from UTA and began working at Pointwise as an intern on our Technical Support Team in 2008. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Joshua DawsonSenior Engineer

Joshua Dawson joined our Technical Sales Team in January of 2019. Prior to Pointwise, Mr. Dawson worked for two years as a Department of Defense Contractor with Applied Research Associates in simulating extreme thermal environments following high explosive detonations. Mr. Dawson earned a B.S. in Psychology from Texas A&M University in 2004. In 2015, Mr. Dawson earned an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from University of Texas at Arlington.

The Information Technology Team

Christopher JobeSenior System Administrator

Christopher Jobe helps maintain the IT systems at Pointwise. He has more than 15 years experience with technology in several different industries, allowing him to provide unique IT solutions and advancements. Mr. Jobe started his education in drafting, but soon found himself returning to his first interest and pursued his career in IT. He is well experienced with all Windows platforms and their integration with Linux. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Randy SpencerSenior System Administrator

Randy Spencer served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an electronic intelligence analyst, completing tours in Kuwait and Iraq. After leaving the service, he earned an Associate of Arts in Business and an Associate of Applied Science in Information Security Technology from Tarrant County College. Mr. Spencer is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert in Cloud Platform and Infrastructure as well as Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate for Server 2012. He has also earned the A+, Linux+, and Security+ certifications from CompTIA. At Pointwise, Mr. Spencer designs, builds, and maintains the IT infrastructure. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Stephanie ThompsonFull Stack Developer

Stephanie Thompson joined Pointwise in 2015 as a web designer. After working as a legal secretary for several years, she began working in various marketing positions gaining experience in screen printing and print production. While pursuing her Associate of Arts degree Mrs. Thompson worked on several freelance graphic design and web development projects. She is currently working towards completing a B.S. in Computer Science at Southern New Hampshire University.
Read more in This is How I Mesh.

The Business & Administrative Services Team

Carrie JefferiesManager

Carrie Jefferies earned a B.S. in Accountancy from Arizona State University in 1999. She joined Pointwise in 2012 and manages the Business and Administrative Services Team’s activities which includes Accounting, Human Resources, general office operations, and administrative support for the other Pointwise teams. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Amy HarrisAdministrative Assistant

Amy Harris has over 10 years of experience in Business and Office Management and a B.A. in English. She joined the Pointwise team in 2017 as the Administrative Assistant and is responsible for creating and revising systems and procedures alongside the BAS Manager by analyzing operating practices, record-keeping systems, and personnel requirements. Read more in This is How I Mesh.

Jennifer QuirarteReceptionist

In 2018, Jennifer Quirarte graduated with a B.A. in Business management & Spanish from the University of North Texas. She joined the Business & Administrative Services Team of Pointwise in October 2018. You can find her in the reception area answering phones and welcoming people. Jenn enjoys working at Pointwise because she has the opportunity to work with multiple teams and absorb more about the administrative, marketing, and sales departments. Read more in This is How I Mesh.